When the bus stops

8/6/2019 When the bus stops

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BITN 868_16,17,18,19 (cuts):BITN 772_20,21 (orbit) 17/3/11 16:35 Page 16


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startling solution. Taking inspiration from theThatcherite ideology of councils as commissioners,from August all services will be outsourced to theprivate sector.

Three hundred employees will be transferred to theprivate sector. The number of councillors is being cutfrom 40 to ten. Only 14 council posts will remain.

In reality, these remaining roles will be hugelydiminished, says Mark Harrison, Unison regionalorganiser.

One of the first cuts is to get rid of two rangers atBarlow Common a local nature reserve thatprovides education programmes and workplacements for adults with learning disabilities.Although the site will remain open, these serviceswill cease.

Hopefully in most of the other areas there will bemore sense in terms of their approach. They are allTory-led, but they dont all share the same drive toemulate Margaret Thatchers policies, Harrison adds.It is a bit strange, because we are talking about acounty that is conservative with a small c, and quiteoften with a big C. They didnt realise that theywouldnt be looked after by their friends inWhitehall.

They have stopped criticising Labour for their

profligacy and started working out that perhapspublic services do have a value.The region, with its large retired population, close-

knit rural communities, genteel Victorian towns and arelatively high level of wealth, has an activevolunteer population, many of whom are relied uponfor services.

Over in the idyllic market town of Knaresborough,the local Age UK branch provides day and home care,free benefits advice, social and travel clubs, and a

1721-27 MARCH 2011 THE BIG ISSUE IN THE NORTH

SPENDING CUTS: NORTH YORKSHIRE

When the bus stopsThey didntrealise thatthey wouldntbe looked afterby their friendsin Whitehall.

North Yorkshire is more affluent than

many northern areas whose public

services are being slashed. But

residents in its remote villages are

finding that the public transport

services they rely on are under

threat. Helen Clifton concludes herseries on spending cuts

The stunning hills and the genteel stone residences ofthe Nidderdale Valley sweep by but passengers onthe local mini-bus arent admiring the views.Instead, the talk on the winding journey fromHarrogate is of government cuts.

If this service closed, Id have to move, saysChristine Harker, who lives in the tiny hamlet ofStean. There were two butchers whod come uphere, and the mobile library. But theres nothing like

that now. And youve got to eat, havent you?Harker agrees vociferously that cuts are necessary but not to this bus, her only lifeline into the localtown of Pateley Bridge to buy her weekly provisions.

They had someone doing a survey of a class thathad been successfully running for 30 years with thesame teacher. What was the point of that? Just to givesomeone a job. But this service well, this isessential, isnt it?

Like many voluntary sector organisations across thesprawling county of North Yorkshire Englandslargest Little Red Bus Community Transport facesbeing cut out of existence after the council slashed600,000 from its 6.5 million public transportsubsidy.

As well as buses, libraries and care homes are themain targets. North Yorkshire County Council isfacing a cut of 69 million 27 per cent of its totalbudget with 37 million in the first year alone.Around 360 jobs are set to go.

Despite being a traditionally Tory authority, inDecember council leader John Weighell made theunusual move of joining Labour colleagues to write inprotest to communities secretary Eric Pickles. Thetimescale by which we are now expected to reducebudgets further is bound to result in a higher impacton frontline services than any of us would want, hesaid.

While the county council is responsible for socialservices, education, transport, and roads, around adozen town councils also provide waste collection,benefits services and leisure. And these too face cuts.

Selby Town Council, which is facing a 3 million

cut to its 10 million budget, has come up with a

Left: Sheila Robinsondisembarks from the LittleRed Bus outside her home.Diane, her daughter, livesnext door. Below: driverDavid Rogers.Photos: Helen Clifton



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18 THE BIG ISSUE IN THE NORTH 21-27 MARCH 2011

system works with young people very well but a lotof older people dont want to ask for help.

She argues that continuity and cashflow couldbe guaranteed through Age UK acting as a broker forpersonalised budgets, using the funds to pay for theservices it already provides.

It is a massive rural area. The care just doesnt gofar enough and we have got a lot of isolation. Myconcern is that we have a level of need from peoplewho are quietly sitting behind their doors and out ofcontact.

Driving deeper into the Dales, that isolationbecomes ever more apparent.

Sheila Robinson, like Harker, will have to move ifthe bus is cut. The 85-year-old cares for her bipolardaughter Diane, 53. The pair live side by side inrented cottages outside the tourist-filled town ofPateley Bridge and survive on benefits.

Both are keen walkers and the activity stabilisesDianes condition. They have lived in Harrogate

before. They dont want to return.

shopping service. Chief officer Jane Farquharson says

it is already working on a shoestring.There is no back office here, she laughs. There isno one to sharpen our pencils. We do all our pencilsharpening ourselves.

But most of the the county councils savings willcome from a 20.5 million cut in its adult andcommunity services budget. Half of that will go in thenext year. As a result, Age UK Knaresborough willthis year see its annual 70,000 budget cut by 3 percent; next year it will be more like 15-20 per cent.Four out of 17 staff are being made redundant. Itsvalued bathing service has lost its 27,000 annualcouncil grant and could close.

People get their hair done, their toenails clipped.Its a social outing. They are treated like humanbeings, explains Farquharson. But we are nowfaced with having no funding whatsoever.

Maybe until you are in a situation where you arenot safe in a bath, you dont know what it like. But itsabsolutely vital, especially for those who care forpeople with dementia. But they are all going to loseout.

We are all going to have to cut back so much therewill be nothing left and charities will go under. Andyou cant merge two charities into one in six months.Its just not possible.

Farquharson has grave concerns that the slowtransition to personalised care budgets care packagefunding given directly to clients and the way GPconsortia are being introduced could mean that careis compromised.

It just hasnt been thought through properly. Whenolder people get sick, they want people to come and

help them. They are very vulnerable at that time. The

SPENDING CUTS: NORTH YORKSHIRE

It is a massive

rural area. Thecare justdoesnt go farenough and wehave got a lotof isolation.

I thought thisgovernmentwere going tosave money onwaste ratherthandismantling

organisations.



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76 vehicles and 45 staff. All profits are put back intocommunity services school runs, taking adults withlearning disabilities to day care, and remote ruralservices. It also runs car volunteer schemes, wherepeople use their own vehicles as public transport inexchange for the price of petrol.

But its council grant has been cut from 150,000 in

2005 to 50,000 this year. And the contracts LittleRed Bus relies on are being slashed.Yet local transport providers are determined to

prove their viability. The Dales & BowlandCommunity Interest Company (CIC) has already savedthe popular DalesBus weekend service from closureby making efficiencies. Over the last year it hasdoubled the number of passengers, cutting thecouncil subsidy by 4 per journey.

The Little Red Bus has partnered with the CIC toform the Dales Integrated Transport Alliance, and isbidding for funding direct from the governments560 million Local Sustainable Transport Fund.

We are the Big Society we are already doing it,says Costelloe. If the council carefully consultedwith us, we could help them. But the problem is thatthey have had to react so quickly. Yet these are thecommunities that really need our help. Out in theDales, there is no alternative.

Back in Knaresborough, Farquharson agrees thatNorth Yorkshires third sector could fill the gaps.Already, the regions different Age UK branches areforming co-ops to work more effectively.

But despite her forthright positivity, she isincreasingly alarmed that the speed and depth of thecuts are just overwhelming for the regions volunteersand charities to cope with.

I thought this government were going to savemoney on waste rather than dismantlingorganisations. But somewhere along the line theyhave switched to axing everything.

It really needs to be thought through. Otherwise,we could be facing deaths this winter; there is

absolutely no doubt about it.

1921-27 MARCH 2011 THE BIG ISSUE IN THE NORTH

There is one bus an hour from Harrogate and a taxicosts 28. But the Little Red Bus dial-a-ride servicepicks up and drops customers off outside their homesfor a few pounds per journey and a 10 annual fee.

The service is excellent; the drivers are very, verygood. We should be lost without it, Robinson says.Everything is so expensive to buy in Pateley Bridge,

and it is so difficult carrying all your bags up thehills. We wouldnt be able to manage without it.Keeping people in the Dales is key for the areas

survival. Almost half of all villages in the area areholiday homes. In 2005 the national park authorityintroduced a ban on new homes being sold tooutsiders. Yet over 90 per cent of stock is exempt.

The Yorkshire Dales Affordable HousingDevelopment Plan to build over 100 new homes wasapproved in December but faced an uphill battle afterresidents complained it would blight the area.

From a thriving little village, this place is now justempty, says another passenger, Claudia Parsons, ofLofthouse. Its a tragedy that the young people arebeing forced out of the village. The house prices arejust astronomical.

What always amazes me about these people is thatthey come out here and say they must have a place inthe country. And then they complain about the cockscrowing and the cows mooing.

Over in the Little Red Buss semi-rural depotoutside Harrogate, chief executive Lyn Costelloe isbecoming increasingly frustrated by the gap betweenthe councils rhetoric and the reality.

There are separate vehicles coming from socialservices, from health, from education. We would putall of these people on to one bus.

We are much more flexible. We could providefeeder services to so many local areas if we were ableto develop that infrastructure. Because we are localoperators, we are best placed to know what localcommunities need. All we need is some support.

The organisation has grown from humble

beginnings with two minibuses in 1986 to a fleet of

The service isexcellent; thedrivers arevery, very

good. Weshould be lostwithout it.

Facing page: ChristineHarker on the bus. If thisservice closes, Id have tomove, she says; LynCostelloe of Little Red Bussees a gap between councilreality and rhetoric. Above:

Age UKs Jane Farquharsonwarns that people coulddie as a result of the cuts


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When the bus stops